Justice Smith, of Belize, offered to step down on Tuesday after revealing that his United States visa had been revoked.
“As a matter of professionalism, even though I have acted in no untoward way whatsoever, the professional thing to do, because it’s not my decision, I did not appoint myself, somebody else appointed me, the president, is to inform him of what has happened,” the Chairman said at a press briefing at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre.
“And to offer to him to resign in the event he believes that it could in any way hinder, hamper, or taint my role as chairman of the commission.”
He told reporters that President Ali “emphatically declined the offer.”
Justice Smith said he received an email from the United States Embassy in Belize on Monday notifying him that his US visa had been revoked.
He contacted the embassy to verify the communication and seek clarification on the decision. The embassy confirmed that the revocation was issued by the US State Department, but indicated that no further information could be provided.
“That therefore leads to the question as to the possible reasons for it. Because they had issued no reasons, because they had stated no reasons, what – all that I can do is to speculate based on circumstantial evidence or circumstances as to what could be the reason,” he said.
He identified his involvement in facilitating academic exchanges and study tours between the University of Belize and China as the only conceivable connection to the revocation.
The activities, he explained, included academic engagements involving distinguished scholars from China’s Fudan University and organizing study tours to China for young leaders, including parliamentarians.
He noted that Belize maintains diplomatic relations with Taiwan rather than Beijing, suggesting that his engagements with Chinese institutions may have drawn scrutiny from Washington given US concerns over China’s expanding influence in Latin America.
The US authorities provided no official explanation for the action, he said. “I accept their decision and will move on from there.”
He added that while he would welcome a public explanation from US authorities, he would not pursue the matter further following advice that no additional details were available.
Justice Smith stressed that the visa revocation has no bearing on the Commission of Inquiry’s work, whose hearings resumed on Tuesday. (Extracted and Modified from the Department of Public Information)
